It is well known to operate tools by robot means. Most such tools and robots are dedicated to the performance of one kind of operation. However, many areas of art are such that there are manipulative steps, often of short duration, which must be performed to achieve a given result. In these areas, one of which would be the processing of chemicals in a chemical laboratory in which heating, mixing, shaking and centrifugation each might be required within a very few minutes, it has simply been impractical to stop and change tools for each operation. For example, the labor time necessary to recognize need for the tool change and to implement the change would often exceed the value of the robotic action for the procedure to be carried out by a particular tool.